Synthetic absorbable sutures composed of biodegradable biomaterials including polyglycolic acid (e.g., sold under the tradename Dexon), copolymer of glycolide and lactide (e.g., sold under the tradename Vicryl), poly-p-dioxanone (sold under the tradename PDSII), copolymer of glycolide and trimethylene carbonate (sold under the tradename Maxon) and copolymer of glycolide and epsilon-caprolactone (sold under the tradename Monocryl) are currently sterilized by gas (ethylene oxide) sterilization because of the known adverse effect of gamma irradiation sterilization on the mechanical properties and hydrolytic degradation rate of these biomaterials. Gas sterilization is time consuming and costly. The toxicity of residual amounts of ethylene oxide in medical devices and products has been a concern and degassing is a long and tedious, costly process. The medical industry has expressed a desire to replace ethylene oxide sterilization for absorbable biomaterials, e.g., absorbable sutures, with gamma irradiation sterilization if the latter method would not significantly increase the strength loss during use of the biomaterials. However, all reported data from conventional gamma irradiation of synthetic polymeric absorbable biomaterials indicates that gamma irradiation sterilization of synthetic polymeric absorbable biomaterials would be unacceptable.
There is a similar problem for non-absorbable synthetic polymeric biomaterials, e.g., in the case of acetabular or tibia components of joint protheses made of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene, which are disadvantageously weakened by conventional gamma irradiation to the extent that gas sterilization has been required.